"We're all mad here" (add final result)

I originally started off with a very detailed carefully drawn depiction of the Queen Of Hearts with various shades of graphite pencil on white cartridge paper. I then duplicated this image using tracing paper with the same pencils and shading it in the exact same way so that they were identical in every possible aspect. Here they are side by side. (left is original, Right is the duplicate)

I then continued to paint the duplicated image with colours associated with the Queen Of Hearts and I chose a deep red for the hair. Because it's my own variation of the Queen I needed the audience to be able to tell who it was straight away. I used acrylic paint and then continued to go over the lines with black ink for definition.

Primary research images

During my project I'm really trying to focus on the natural and animal imagery seen both visually and verbally throughout the book so for some primary research I've taken photographs of some of a college friend's collection of taxidermy animals, feather collections and some of my own flowers. These have been really helpful as references to draw from especially the roses. Below you'll see my favourite selections of the images I have taken.

The images of roses are essential to a piece I have planned in my head for the Queen of Hearts who famously loves red roses. I plan to make roses out of lots of different materials and make a sort of head dress out of them, including cardboard, maybe book paper, wallpaper etc.

I absolutely love the colours and patterns in these feathers, I'm pretty sure these are pheasant feathers. They're long and flamboyant with a beautiful range of colours that are really inspirational especially when all the patterns come together.
I'd really like to create some handmade feathers and paint them maybe for Alice's hair and these are perfect references because I won't find any feathers similar to these in shops or lying around blackburn.

I'm definitely planning on using bird imagery in a piece of work- I don't quite know what though yet, all's I know is that I love the quote "why is a raven like a writing desk?" and I can incorporate birds (specifically ravens/crows) in that, but for reference I've collected some images of birds wings and feathers because it's something I'm not quite familiar with.

This is a racoons head fur, perfect shape for a head dress like I have been planning. But maybe change it to another animal using this as a main reference point would look better like a fox or a wolf of some kind.






I think using a rabit skull in my work is a brilliant idea, it's so dark and eerie and also extremely relevant to the story and the dark references to drugs and death. "Follow the white rabbit"...

I'm obviously going to be using rabbit imagery in my work (and a lot of it) so I've really focused on this rabbit. It's an entire rabbit fur and the ears have hardened in a spectacular display all crooked but pointed upwards. I want to dedicate a single piece to the white rabbit. I know this rabbit isn't very white but that can easily be changed.

Follow the white rabbit

All the way through my project I wanted to dedicate one piece just to the white rabbit on his own. This was the finished result. Inkeeping with the theme I have fashioned the rabbits head and facial features similar to that of flower petals with the colour, shapes and even the physical curling into 3d petals, I've never done this before but it looks brilliant and really compliments the other pieces in my project. Although the rabbit isn't very white I've incorporated various patterned wallpapers that are white, cream or silver to compliment the paint colours and surrounding objects such as the flowers and the book paper which shows my skills when it comes to colour and pattern selection and how well I can work with complimentary colours. It may not look like I've put any thought into it but every piece was carefully selected out of my collection of materials and placed presicely underneath or over each layer. The twigs framing the rabbits head were fiddly to do, they are made out of wallpaper that mimicks the texture of bark on trees but originally they were thin and long so I had to create small templates in the shape of the twigs above and carefully cut them out of wallpaper and stick them on piece by piece to create what you see in this image. I also felt using book paper was a really important part of the process because not only does it create a collective amongst the other pieces but also, the audience is visually reminded of the context of each piece with the inspiration being derived from a book which I think is a great way of visually connecting with the audience.
Overall I think this piece worked out well, it's feminine, visually creative, has a lot of technical skill and aesthetically pleasing.

exhibition

This is an image of my exhibition for my final major project displaying a small selection of work from the project. As a collective they compliment eachother really well mainly because of the similar styles, colours and materials including book paper which is a main essential piece of visual context to remind the audience of the inspirational origins which is a book: Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. You may not think they represent his story well but that's because they are merely inspired by his work including quotes from the book and my own variations of the characters and developing the quotes into visual creations.
The exhibition went amazingly, hundreds of people turned up to look at the work. I heard so many nice things about my work and people pointing out their favourite aspects or pieces, I also heard some constructive criticism which is always helpful to hear and gives me things to think upon, improve and develop.

The Queen She Likes 'Em Red

This was probably my most simple piece, it only took around 20 minutes to do the rose and 20 minutes for everything else including painting and the background. However, sometimes it's nice to see something that's simple yet creative and this looks really good amongst my other pieces which are very embellished and crowded pieces. The rose is the main focus in this and one of my favourite things to create with book paper especially on a book paper background because it looks as though it's sprouted from the background and growing towards you out of the image. The quote "The Queen she likes 'em red" is well known from the Disney adaption in 1951 in which the queens guards are painting white roses red with paint. This is what I've tried to re-create with red acrylics and it looks visually effective almost like it's still dripping down the page which I love. Although this piece didn't take long it's a technical piece and shows off my skills and how I can make something so simple look very creative and dynamic. It compliments the other pieces very well.

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

This is one of my favourite and probably one of the more technical pieces. I've used a wide range of materials on this piece. I firstly painted the head free hand onto the book paper background, then, drew out a template of the wings with a very light shade of graphite pencil. I coloured in the feathers I thought would look right made out of materials after that it all became improvisation. I painted some feathers with watered down acrylic paint so the book paper was still partly visible through the paint. Then I drew around each selected feather individually with tracing paper as a template for the wallpaper, I then selected appropriate colours and patterns for the feathers in a very particular order so that they complimented eachother really well. The small ones were the most fiddly bits to do but they all come together really well and the texture is visible even through a photograph. As an extra textural bonus I cut feather shaped pieces out of plastic and layered them over selected feathers. This looks brilliant in person but isnt really visible in a photograph, especially when the light hits it and creates a shiny aesthetic over the matt paint.
I curled the petals of the flower in the ravens beak to make it look more realistic and it looks really 3d and creative. I don't know if it's visible to anyone else but the stem of the feather had a quote written in it..... "Why is a raven like a writing desk?" This is a quote from Alice In Wonderland. I'm really happy with this piece.

"Curiouser and curiouser"

Final piece "The Queen Of Hearts"

I had envisioned this piece from the very start of my project, mainly because of the inspiration for this piece which was a piece of art I created in my "Vision" project last year. I was so impressed with that piece that I had to create a second piece and create a series which I still want to add to. However I think this piece was more creative than the last and has a different aesthetic in terms of the colour palette because of the use of reds, pinks and yellow. This is because this piece had to relate to the Queen Of Hearts in a very obvious way. If you look closely you'll see that the patterns on her forehead is the classical version of the queen of hearts from a playing card that I have re-drawn and cut bits out of whilst layering pieces of playing cards underneath for a busy visual effect that looks really detailed and well planned out, It also has small parts of drawing in black ink similar to the previous piece of art to mimick the style keeping it aesthetically similar.
The head piece was especially difficult in terms of placement because of all the different styles, sizes and thickness of each flower but they've all come together and not clashed despite the very similar colours in each one which I was worried about. I think the book paper rose breaks it up a bit more.
The collar took a long time to create because of each piece having it's own shape and actually curving out of the image itself, it's a very 3d piece in terms of things coming out of it. It's taken a lot of creative thinking to bring this piece together but the result is impressive considering how many times things kept falling off and coming loose.
Over all I think this piece represents my themes and ideas really well as a final piece and am looking forward to seeing it in the exhibiton.

"Alice falling down the rabbit hole"